Just Isabelle

Once upon a time, there was a hedgehog.

She was shy and unobtrusive and entirely not self-assured.

One day, whilst she was lying in her crib, awaiting her mummy returning from her hunt with the dinner for the day, she began to feel a bit uneasy. Her tummy was rumbling, and she couldn’t shake a nagging feeling from within. “I’m just hungry,” she thought, but the feeling grew stronger and stronger and she began to feel itchy from the inside. She began to rub at her paws, but the itch grew stronger. She began to bite at her paws, but the itch grew stronger still. She found a twig lying next to her and began to scratch and scratch, but to no avail. The itch became more and more intense, burning her and getting deeper and stronger with every tear of the flesh. She started bleeding and weeping where the itch tried and failed to come out. Nothing was working, so she got up and out of her bed and tried calling out for her mummy. 

She was still quite young, but being the firstborn by some seconds, mummy said she was more mature than her siblings and soon she would be able to leave the nest and make a home of her own. But she wasn’t ready yet. She liked the comfort of having her family next to her. The joy of having a lovely meal provided for her every evening. Of the outings with her brother and sisters helping mummy forage for goods for said meal. Of the only responsibility in her short life being to play with her siblings and to eat.

She called out loudly into the trees, where her voice echoed and returned to her. The birds began to chatter loudly amongst themselves. The wind stirred up causing leaves to flutter around her.

She decided she needed to do more. To be productive. She would go out looking for mummy, walk back home with her, and they could all enjoy a nice meal and an early night. Safe and secure and tucked up together.

This was the first time that Isabelle had been alone. “You can do this!” she chanted to herself, “you are strong and mature and your siblings are relying on you…” 

Off she wandered deeper and deeper into the forest, unsure of what was lurking beneath the forest bed. 

At first she was very wary. Her eyesight was poor and she could feel her vision jumping from high up to the sky to the earth below with every noise that passed by her ears. There were mounds and mounds of moss and leaves. The trees casting shadows from up high. Rocking a little in the wind and making creaking sounds as branch tickled branch above.

There were many large mushrooms popping up all around. She absorbed the woody scent and tried not to fear any predator. Mummy had warned them on their trips in the field of animals that loved to feed on little hoglets that didn’t know how to defend themselves. So she practiced and practiced and as soon as her spines grew long enough, she would curl herself up into a ball and roll. Her siblings would try as well and soon it became their favourite game. Isabelle would often win, but unfurl so as not to cause upset in the competition. She knew what to do in any event.

“Mummy,” she cried over and over. “Mummy, where are you?!” 

A large grunt replied in response. Isabelle gasped and scuttled as fast as she could. The grunt was getting closer and closer and becoming louder and louder. “A badger!” she thought, terrified. She had never encountered one before, but mummy would always impersonate them when they were playing their favourite game of ball curling, and it sounded exactly the same. “Never let a badger turn you over,” mummy had warned them. “Your tummy must be protected at all times. Use your claws to dig into the ground and keep tightly wound in your ball.”

Fear crashed through Isabelle causing her skin to prickle and her eyes to widen. She couldn’t see anything, but her heightened sense of sound told her that badger breath was gaining on her. She looked for somewhere to hide, but given she couldn’t climb a tree, she had no option but to furl up and try to stay in a ball until the badger left. 

The badger was at her. Snuffing and breathing heavily, wet and musty. He tried to push her with his snout, but immediately pulled back as the spines pricked him. He made to roll her with his paws, but Isabelle held tighter still and tried to push her spines further out, claws burrowing deeper into the earth, not allowing anything but quills be visible. This caused her to shift and move. The badger took advantage and began to paw and scrabble and roll her around, trying to find an exit from thorny spine. Isabelle was determined, she would not allow the badger to win, no matter how exhausted she was. She would not give up!

Soon, the badger tired of the resistance and went off to find easier prey. Only a while after she felt the vibrations on the ground of his movement subside, did she release herself. She was completely drained of all energy, and stayed where she was, head down but unable to relax. Hours passed and still she stayed put. Shock taking over determination, as adrenaline left her body weary and sad.

Eventually, after psyching herself up, Isabelle found some strength to make her way back home. She would forage some food and take it to her family. She was more than capable of doing so.

She would clean up the nest and make mummy proud.

En route, she realised she hadn’t travelled far at all. All the familiarities of home came only too quickly, and of this she was grateful. She captured some creepies and crawlies and carried them home. Entering the den, she felt the unease return.

“Where is everyone?” she cried out. She called the names of all three siblings, to no reply.

She went outside, shuffling through the earth to look for clues to her family's whereabouts. Nothing. Just then, a memory came to mind. Mummy was whispering to herself, unaware she was being watched, as if in a daze. “Soon it will be just you and me,” she sounded to the mirror, “they’re old enough, they can look after themselves, can’t they?”

Confused and upset, Isabelle realised that this was it. Her family all had to make their own way. To build their own home and have families of their own. Mummy was gone. She would probably never see her again. She remembered how much love she felt and knew that all she had learned up until now, was training for her to live her own life. A gift she could pass on to her own children. 

The realisation was abrupt but she also knew that she could stand her ground. Protect herself. Feed and look after her home. Much as she loved the nest she was reared in, Isabelle also didn’t feel like it was home anymore. Not without the rest of her family. She would go and find a new home. All for herself, where she could make space and place anything she wanted anywhere she wanted. A new venture. A new life.

Just Isabelle.

THE END